More bad news for Colin

Poor Colin really seems to have the deck stacked against him at this early stage in life. Just when we think we have things under control for him, something else crops up to cause him problems. Now that his lungs seem to be functioning well (thanks to the steroid treatments), he has stopped growing. In addition, we just found out that his brain scan two weeks ago showed he had a brain bleed (technically an intraventricular hemorrhage). 

It is only a Grade 1 hemorrhage, the kind least likely to cause any permanent damage, but it is one more thing to be concerned about. Fortunately, his scan last week showed that it hadn't worsened and the doctors think it will probably resolve itself by the time he hits full term (40 weeks). But I still worry about the possibility of it making life harder for my poor baby.

For some reason, neither John nor I was told about the bleed until this week, when one of Colin’s night nurses noticed it in his records and asked if we had known. Because we hadn’t been told, his nurse the next day tracked down the doctor and called us so we could call back and ask about the results. (Apparently she technically couldn’t initiate the conversation, so she called when the doctor was sitting next to her and made John call back right away to ask about what it meant. She is a wonderful nurse!)

It’s very a-typical of our experience that we didn’t get the results of the scan. The doctors and nurses are very good at keeping us apprised of the developments and results for the babies. I think that we were all so focused on getting Colin off the ventilator that everything else sort of faded into the background. We’ve been reminded by this that we need to keep track of when the various tests are run, however, and follow up to make sure everything is okay. 

Colin’s lack of weight gain continues to be a concern. He started two days ago on the high-calorie formula for every other feed. The nurse said it typically takes a few days to see any weight gain from the change (unlike when I eat an extra cookie and see the unfortunate results the next day), so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will do the trick. 

Veronica has been pretty successfully taking every other feeding by mouth — at least partially and quite often fully. It still saps her energy and she nearly always sleeps through the next feeding. But I feel like we may be getting closer to getting her home. 

In some ways, that almost makes me sad. Not that I don’t want her here with us, but she and Colin are finally able to be together for the first time since their birth, and when she comes home they will be separated again. They seem to enjoy snuggling together, and it really calms them both down when we hold them at the same time. I will be sad to have to keep them apart again until Colin finishes growing and can join us at home as well.

I’ll post some new pictures tomorrow.